Ipswich Town v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Tuesday 7th March 2017 – 19:45
Portman Road
Opening Thought – Jamma
After our recent excellent run of form, there was always going to be some kind of drop-off in our level of performances. If there were signs at Carrow Road last weekend that our February exploits were starting to catch up with us, the display against Brentford certainly didn’t reach the heights of the Blues’ previous home clashes with Reading and Leeds. Mick McCarthy’s comment that one of the few positives to take out of the game was that we didn’t lose it just about summed up this distinct shortfall in quality. McCarthy’s opposite number, Dean Smith, was honest enough to admit that neither team had done enough to win, interestingly the second opposition manager in two home matches to cite the Portman Road surface as a contributing factor. Bartosz Bialkowski had a quieter day at the office than in the derby, the only other time he was called upon being when he barely got enough on a Sergi Canos shot which was cleared off the line by Myles Kenlock. But, apart from a 20-minute spell around Emyr Huws’ well taken goal, Ipswich were second best to the lively Bees. There may not have been anything to choose between the two sides’ cutting edge – or lack thereof – but Brentford’s passing was crisper, their movement sharper and their possession more assured. Even when Town have struggled to match their opponents’ quality on the ball this season, there haven’t been too many occasions when you could question our hunger and desire. Maybe there was a somewhat inevitable element of ‘After the Lord Mayor’s show’ about Saturday (Norwich will know all about that
), but it was worrying how frequently the ball seemed to fall to a man in red and white, more often than not the imperious Ryan Woods in the middle of the park. Our only half-chances fell to the equally impressive Cole Skuse, the second following a sublime move towards the end. But, even if Skuse had managed to conjure up only his second goal in 150 appearances for the Blues, it wouldn’t have masked what was otherwise an underwhelming afternoon.Mick is right to highlight the consolation of earning a point when earlier in the campaign we would have got nothing. It is true when they say that you don’t always get what you deserve in football. Town fans can point to a number of examples from 2016/17 alone when we haven’t got the results that our performances have merited – the recent outings against Reading and Leeds two examples that spring to mind where a point could easily have been all three. But that sometimes works the other way too, and a team picks up a barely deserved draw from a sub-standard display. As McCarthy said after the game, Saturday was one of those days when you just have to take the point and be thankful for it. Our next opponents, Wolves, may have been thinking something similar after the 0-0 stalemate at Molineux in August, as a Daryl Murphy goal was wrongly chalked off for offside. It might be pushing it a bit to suggest that revenge will be playing on the Blues’ minds, but there always seems to be something extra riding on matches against Wolves, given Mick McCarthy’s history with them. The team from the Black Country have slipped dangerously close to the relegation trapdoor on the back of five straight defeats in the league. But many of their better results have come away from home, with wins at Barnsley and, in the FA Cup, Liverpool and Stoke to their name in recent weeks. As so often in the Championship, they will be a team not to be taken for granted, but equally one from which we should be looking to get maximum points.
The Opposition Wolverhampton Wanderers
The club was founded in 1877 as St. Luke's and later merged with local cricket and football club The Wanderers to form Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 1879.
Having become professional, the club were nominated to become one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888. They ended the inaugural season in third place, as well as reaching their first FA Cup final, losing to Preston North End. At the conclusion of the campaign, the club relocated to the Molineux.
Wolves lifted the FA Cup for the first time in 1893 and added a second triumph in 1908, two years after having dropped into the Second Division.
After struggling for many years to regain their place in the top division, the club suffered a further relegation in 1923, entering the Third Division (North), which they won at the first attempt.
Eight years later, Wolves regained their top-flight status after winning the Second Division title under Major Frank Buckley. With Buckley at the helm, the team became established as one of the leading club sides in England in the years leading up to the Second World War, as they finished runners-up in the league twice in succession, as well as reaching the last pre-war FA Cup final, in which they suffered a shock defeat to Portsmouth.
When league football resumed, Wolves suffered yet another final day failure in the First Division. Just as in 1938, victory in their last match would have won the title but a 1–2 loss to title rivals Liverpool gave them the championship instead.
In 1949, Stan Cullis's first season in charge, he led Wolves to a first major honour in 41 years as they beat Leicester to lift the FA Cup and, a year later, only goal average prevented Wolves from winning the league title.
The 1950s were by far the most successful period in the club's history. Wolves finally claimed the league championship for the first time in 1953–54. Two further titles were soon won in successive years (1957–58 and 1958–59), as Wolves cemented their position as the premier team in English football.
Although the decade opened with a fourth FA Cup victory and almost the first double of the twentieth century, the 1960s saw Wolves begin to decline. Cullis was sacked in September 1964, in a season that ended with relegation and the club's first spell outside the top division in more than thirty years. This exile would last only two seasons, though, as they were promoted in 1967 as runners-up.
The club's return to the English top flight heralded another period of relative success under Bill McGarry, with a fourth place in 1971 qualifying them for the newly-created UEFA Cup, in which they reached the final, losing to Tottenham on aggregate.
They lifted silverware, though, two years later, when they won the League Cup for the first time by beating Manchester City in the final. Despite relegation again in 1976, Wolves bounced back at the first attempt as Second Division champions and, under manager John Barnwell, the turn of the decade saw them finish in the top six and win the 1980 League Cup.
The multi-million-pound rebuilding of the Molineux Street Stand in 1979 was to be the catalyst for the club's near financial ruin during the following decade, as difficulties in repaying the loans taken out to fund it led to receivership and relegation in 1982. The club was "saved" from liquidation at the last minute when it was purchased by a consortium fronted by former player Derek Dougan. Initially, this takeover, financed by two Saudi brothers, Mahmud and Mohammad Bhatti of the company Allied Properties, brought immediate promotion back to the First Division under manager Graham Hawkins, but the Bhattis' failure to sufficiently invest in the club soon saw things unravel as the team suffered three consecutive relegations under different managers through the football divisions, as well as the almost constant threat of the club being wound up.
In 1986, with the club again in receivership, a deal saw Wolverhampton City Council purchase the club's stadium and surrounding land, while a local developer paid off the club's outstanding debts in return for planning permission to develop the land adjacent to the stadium. The new season saw Wolves' first ever campaign in the Fourth Division. The team reached the final of the inaugural play-offs but were denied promotion by Aldershot. However, the final two seasons of the decade saw the team achieve both the Fourth and Third Division championship, and also win the Football League Trophy at Wembley in 1988.
Lifelong fan Sir Jack Hayward purchased the club in 1990 and immediately funded the extensive redevelopment of the by now dilapidated Molineux into a modern all-seater stadium. With work completed in 1993, Hayward turned his investment into the club’s playing side in an attempt to win promotion to the newly-formed Premier League. Yet, despite this substantial spending, neither Graham Taylor nor Mark McGhee could fulfil this, both leading the team to play-off defeats at the semi-final stage (in 1995 and 1997 respectively).
It was not until 2003 that Wolves were promoted, when they defeated Sheffield United in the play-off final under Dave Jones to end a nineteen-year absence from the top level. Their stay proved short-lived, though, as they were immediately relegated back to the newly-retitled Championship.
After former England manager Glenn Hoddle failed to bring a swift return, the rebuilding of the squad by Mick McCarthy rejuvenated the club with an unexpected play-off finish. The club was bought by Steve Morgan in 2007, and two years later it returned to the Premier League as Championship champions. Wolves successfully battled relegation for two seasons before 2011–12 saw McCarthy's dismissal precipitate the drop under his assistant Terry Connor.
Following relegation, Norwegian Ståle Solbakken became the club's first overseas manager but his reign lasted only six months before a poor run of results saw him replaced by Dean Saunders in January 2013. Saunders failed to bring any upturn, culminating in both relegation to League One and his own dismissal.
Following this, Kenny Jackett was appointed in May 2013 in the retitled position of Head Coach, and led the team back to the Championship in his first season, setting a new club record points total of 103 in winning League One.
In 2014/15, Wolves almost made it to the play-offs, finishing on the same number of points as Town (78 points) but one place behind us in 7th due to goal difference.
Last season never looked like reaching the same heights, with Wolves finally finishing up in 14th place in the table.
On 21 July 2016, it was confirmed that Fosun International had bought the club from Steve Morgan, for an undisclosed amount, with Jez Moxey stepping down from his role as CEO. On 29 July 2016, Wolves announced that Kenny Jackett's contract with the club had been terminated. Former Italian international Walter Zenga was appointed the following day.
Zenga was axed and, on 5 November 2016, Paul Lambert was appointed new Head Coach, with the team down in 19th place.
The Gaffer – Paul Lambert
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
A look back to a 2-2 draw from this fixture last season. Let's hope we can take all 3 points off a struggling Wolves team.
Media Watch - K L Blue
Tommy Smith on his return:
http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/31273/
MM interview:
http://www.sudburymercury.co.uk/sport/r ... _1_4916610
MM on Brentford match:
http://www.itfc.co.uk/news/article/2016 ... 08198.aspx
Form Guide
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – Currently in 15th place with 43 points
Ipswich Town 1-1 Brentford FC
Norwich City 1-1 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 1-1 Leeds United
Brighton 1-1 Ipswich Town
Aston Villa 0-1 Ipswich Town
Wolves Last 5 Matches – Currently in 21st place with 35 points
Reading FC 2-1 Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton P-P Huddersfield
Wolverhampton 1-2 Birmingham City
Wolverhampton 0-2 Chelsea FC
Wolverhampton 0-1 Wigan Athletic
Fixtures of Interest
BIRMINGHAM VS WIGAN
HUDDERSFIELD VS ASTON VILLA
FOREST VS BRENTFORD
QPR VS BARNSLEY
Match Referee – Darren Deadman
Final Thought – Bluemike
Stats can be so misleading, especially where we are concerned. One defeat in eight or two wins in ten. – both are correct so you decide how Town have been doing these last few weeks. For me, we are on a very good run, especially when you consider the teams we have been up against of late. OK, the Brentford game was poor, we didn't really show up and were second best for long spells, but we didn't lose and that is the only pleasing thing to come out of Saturday's game. I stand by my beliefs that the Town faithful are as fickle as f*ck. I heard such comments as "A big step backwards as we played for a point" or " Things will never change under MM, just go", etc., etc.. I'm sorry, but things have been changing recently. We have seen a marked improvement. Whether you want him to stay or go is fine but idiotic comments like that just sum up the average Town fan these days for me. We will not become the finished article just like that. We will still have bad days and if a 1-1 draw at home to Brentford when not playing well is a bad day then I will take that, for sure. The debate has often raged about who lifts who, the players or the fans? Well I am often told it is the players’ job to lift the fans so why when we went one up was the bloody place like a morgue again? It was obvious the players were toiling but still led the game. We were needed but, like some of the players, the crowd yet again failed to turn up. Just saying.
The day is fast approaching when season ticket renewal letters will be dropping on our floors. It is going to be really interesting, if not just a little bit worrying, to see what the uptake is like. Clearly they won't be hiking up prices. In fact, I think they will do nothing – a freeze is the best we can hope for. Will this be enough to appease disgruntled fans? No doubt our season ticket numbers will drop, but to what level?? We say this every season but the summer looks to be building up to be one of the most interesting for years down Portman Road, with many issues to be resolved – MM staying or going?? This for me depends on the budget Marcus Evans hands him, Berra, Chambers, Pitman, etc., etc. staying or going?? Can we secure the likes of Huws, Spence and Diagouraga?? And, most importantly, what signings (if any) can we lure to the club? Yes indeed, it should be a very interesting close season this time around.
One of this season’s biggest surprises for me is the poor showing by our next opponents, Wolves. I didn't exactly see them as top six material, but I sure as hell expected better than a genuine relegation scrap, which is where they find themselves. We know from his time at Norwich that Paul Lambert is a very good Championship manager. We also know that the Wolves like to splash the cash. I mean £13 million on Helder Costa alone is crazy money. I have repeatedly said money does not buy success. This is a classic example. It doesn't stop there either – Ben Marshall, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Andreass Weimann, etc., etc.. It would be a major shock to see Wolves go down but it could happen. Six defeats in the last seven league games is terrible form and, when you still have to play Fulham, Brighton, Leeds, Huddersfield & Derby to name but five, it could get a whole lot worse. I think it is fair to say they need a win against us. Unfortunately for them, I can see us edging home in this one to heap more pressure on them. COYBs.
IPSWICH TOWN 2 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1
